ICTY Weekly Press Briefing - 22nd Mar 2006

Please note that this
is not a verbatim transcript of the Press
Briefing. It is merely a summary.

Date:
22.03.2006

Time: 12:00

Registry
and Chambers:

Alexandra Milenov, Liaison Officer for
Registry and Chambers, made the following
statement:

Last Monday, 20 March 2006, the Tribunal
participated in a conference in Belgrade
organized by the Youth Initiative for
Human Rights, a Belgrade-based NGO, on
transparency of trials. In addition to
comments made by the Tribunal’s
Liaison Officer in Sarajevo, Matias Hellman,
an open letter on the importance of conducting
trials in a transparent matter signed
by the Tribunal’s President, Prosecutor
and Registrar, was read out. In their
letter, Judge Fausto Pocar, Prosecutor
Carla del Ponte and Registrar Hans Holthuis,
write that the Tribunal

…recognizes the extreme importance
of making it possible for victims affected
by the crimes, and the communities they
live in, to hear the court in its efforts
to establish the truth of what happened.
It is for this reason that the Tribunal
audio and video records its proceedings
and makes them available to media agencies
to broadcast to the public, as well as
providing live web-streaming. Every month
our website receives over 90,000 hits
on its Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language
broadcast of our trials. This demonstrates
the great interest that the region places
in our work."

The letter goes on to stated that the "results
of the Tribunal’s work and that
of local courts can only contribute to
lasting peace in the region if the public
knows about it." Finally, in their letter,
the Tribunal’s principal officials
encouraged courts in the region to use
all the technical and other resources
they have to make their proceedings accessible
to the public, and hopes that national
authorities and international actors
will support them in this endeavour.

The Tribunal’s participation in
this conference is part of its efforts
to support local judiciaries not only
to try war crimes cases, but also to
make these cases accessible to the public.

The Tribunal would like to welcome representatives
of the Serbian Supreme Court who are
here to meet with Tribunal representatives
this week. The Serbian Supreme Court
is in the midst of establishing its own
media and outreach efforts. Its representatives
will be meeting with personnel from the
Tribunal’s Media, Outreach and
Web office to learn about the Tribunal’s
efforts to make its work available to
the public in the former Yugoslavia.
The Tribunal would like to acknowledge
the support of the United Nations Development
Programme office in Belgrade, Serbia
and Montenegro for sponsoring this visit.

In terms of the courtroom schedule,
the appeals judgement in the case against
the leading political figure in the Bosnian
Municipality of Prijedor in 1992, Milomir
Stakic will be read out this afternoon
at 14:15 in courtroom I. Milomir Stakic
was sentenced to life imprisonment by
the Trial Chamber.

There will be a sentencing hearing in
the case against a commander of the Bosnian
Croat army Ivica Rajic, this Thursday
at 15:00 in courtroom I.

There will be a regular status conference
in the case against Bosnian Serb army
officer Dragomir Milosevic Tuesday, 28
March at 14:15 in courtroom I.

A status conference will also be held
in the case against a number of the highest-level
leaders of the Bosnian Croat wartime
entity, and one from the Republic of
Croatia, the Prlic et al. case, on Thursday,
30 March at 9:00 in courtroom I.

The trial against Yugoslav Army officers
Mile Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin
Slivancanin continues this Friday at
9:00 in courtroom I. It will sit next
week Monday, 27 March at 14:15 in courtroom
I and in courtroom II on Tuesday at 14:15
and Wednesday through Friday at 9:00.

The trial against Milan Martic, a high-level
political leader of the war-time Croatian
Serb entity, continues this afternoon
and Friday at 14:15 in courtroom II and
Thursday at 9:00, also in courtroom II.
The trial continues next week Monday
through Friday at 9:00 in courtroom II.

The trial against Momcilo Krajisnik,
a former high-level leader of the Bosnian
Serb political entity, will continue
this week on Thursday afternoon at 14:15
and Friday morning at 9:00 in courtroom
I. The trial will sit next week Monday
and Tuesday at 9:00 in courtroom I and
Wednesday through Friday at 14:15 in
courtroom II.

Office of the Prosecutor:

Jean Daniel Ruch, Special Political
Adviser to the Prosecutor, announced
that the Prosecutor is planning to travel
to Banja Luka and Belgrade on 29 March
2006. In Banja Luka she will meet with
Milorad Dodik, the new Prime Minister,
in Belgrade with the President and the
Prime Minister of Serbia in Belgrade.
On 31 March 2006 she is leaving for Brussels
where she will meet among other officials
with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rhen.

Questions:

Asked if the Tribunal was able to
give the exact time of Milosevic’s
death, Milenov said that the inquiry
that the Tribunal was conducting is still
ongoing and that we have not received
the final results from the Dutch authorities.
She added that we recently have been
informed by the Dutch Prosecutor that
we could expect to receive further results
from the Dutch pathologists next week
and not this week as was expected. She
continued to say that she would like
to remind that this would probably not
be the final report from the entire investigation
into the cause of death of Slobodan Milosevic
conducted by the Dutch authorities. She
reminded that the Dutch authorities’ investigation
is being conducted completely independently
of the Tribunal but certainly with its
full support. She invited the media to
check with them for their timeline.

Asked how the internal inquiry by
the Tribunal was proceeding and whether
there were discussions for a possible
inquiry from UN Headquarters in New York,
Milenov stated that she could not add
anything in terms of the inquiry accept
that was it was well underway and that
Judge Kevin Parker who is conducting
the inquiry has indicated that some issues
may take a few weeks to fully explore
and come to conclusions. She added that
we should allow the Judges the time to
proceed with their work. As to the second
question, Milenov said that at this point
she was not aware that any special measures
were being taken by UNHQ but added that
as announced earlier the Tribunal is
in the process of arranging an independent
review of the ICTY Detention Unit and
is about to finalize the details with
the State that will be conducting the
review.

Asked why the internal inquiry takes
such a long time and what the objective
was, Milenov said that a previous internal
inquiry that the Tribunal conducted,
which was into the death of Slavko Dokmanovic
in the UN Detention Unit, took a couple
of weeks. She said she expects that in
order to interview all the relevant people
and to review the necessary documentation
in order to come to conclusions or answer
questions raised, it would be normal
to take some time.

Asked if the trip to Brussels was
connected to the 5 April deadline, Ruch
said that there was not an official deadline
in the EU conclusions, but that the EU
expected that Belgrade takes decisive
action against the remaining fugitives,
especially Karadzic and Mladic. The Council
also asked the Presidency and the Commission
to stay in contact with the Prosecutor.
It is of course in this context that
the meeting with Olli Rehn must be seen.
The Prosecutor will share her assessment
following her trip to Belgrade. He added
that the EU also said that if Belgrade
fails to cooperate, negotiations between
the EU and Belgrade would be disrupted.

Asked if the internal inquiry into
the death of Milan Babic has been concluded,
Milenov said that she expected that the
findings of the inquiry, ordered by President
Fausto Pocar, would be finalized next
week. Asked whether the results would
be made public, she said that the she
was not sure at this moment what the
modalities would be, but that when the
Tribunal has something that can be released
to the public; we would of course let
the media know.

Asked if new cases would begin soon,
Milenov said that indeed we could a expect
decision on the start of new cases soon,
she added that it was a matter for the
Chamber and of course depends also on
the readiness of the Prosecutor and the
Defence.

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